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One difference between the Exeter of yesteryear and the team that submitted Wasps to add the Premiership crown to the European is their ability to improvise. Henry Slade considered the try he scored in last season’s finale as the meanest consolation because the Chiefs lost an 11-point lead, but his opportunistic score against the Wasps counted much more.
Exeter had to dig deep into itself to defeat opponents who were 10th in the table earlier in the season and who didn’t have four players who had to isolate themselves due to the coronavirus, but they have developed such knowledge over the years that by second week in a row they were able to find a way to win a final they had not mastered.
Slade’s try came after 17 minutes when Wasps, who had started strong, led through a Jimmy Gopperth penalty. A team whose place in the final was confirmed only on Wednesday after a round of testing for Covid-19 failed to reveal a positive result and had endured an interrupted training program, brought the game to Exeter because a storm caused the handling was dangerous.
The Wasps, unlike Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final the previous week, rationed the penalties they conceded and were able to keep Exeter at arm’s length as both sides took to the air with conditions that turned it into a battle for the position as well as possession.
Exeter’s best attack had been a lineout at Wasps 22 after a penalty, but Joe Launchbury thwarted the drive and, as several forwards were not backed up at the tackle, the Chiefs looked for weaknesses against opponents who, until recent weeks, were not. they had been recognized. for their defense, they struggled to get close to the profit line, no matter what.
So they decided to widen the point of attack and when the ball reached Slade to 35 meters, he had two forwards in front of him, prop Tom West and No. 8 Tom Willis.
The latter had to keep an eye on the outside because no one was lined up against Jack Nowell and Slade, seeing the gap between the two widen, left them staring at each other.
By the time the last line of defense, Matteo Minozzi, made his challenge, the England center was on his way and stepped inside to give his team the advantage.
The wasps responded with an equally well-constructed intent. Dan Robson kept the defense in a ruck at Exeter 22 and pulled Jonny Hill towards him while pretending to run rather than pass. That left a hole that was filled by Jacob Umaga and as the outer half picked up speed he shrugged off Stuart Hogg’s challenge and left Dave Ewers drowning in his vapor trail.
The try restored the lead for Wasps, but it was Exeter who took the lead in the interval. The Chiefs, against their nature, opted to shoot two penalties, a nod to the conditions and to their opponents whose appetite for contact was not dampened by the rain. The wasps’ only area of weakness was up front, but the referee gave latitude to the front rows on a soggy surface.
Exeter started the second period like a locker room hurt, though Wasps got an early opportunity when Robson followed a charge down with a chip on the line only for Joe Simmonds to out-rebound him. The Chiefs are famous for their 10-meter shooting skills, but they don’t often face an opponent as skilled at sabotaging possession as Jack Willis.
After Willis induced a penalty on his own line, Lima Sopoaga, who had just come in for Minozzi, followed his long kick downfield, caught Ewers and forced a wing error that led to a penalty that Gopperth kicked to level the score. . Wasps sensed an opportunity, but Exeter renewed his control and forced three penalties in as many minutes, the last of which Simmonds converted to give his team the lead again.
Still the Wasps came, but one reason Exeter, like the Saracens before them, are champions is their ability to turn pressure into points. There were five minutes to go when Wasps took a penalty five meters from the Chiefs’ line, a catch and a push away from his first title since 2008.
Gabriel Oghre, counterintuitively given the conditions, shot long but no one in a yellow jersey came for the ball and Exeter took possession and never released the ball, making his way downfield and earning penalty after penalty. They kicked last to give Simmonds four on the night and, for the second time in four seasons, a narrow win over the Wasps in the final. Double trouble.
